


Sweeter than a Carolina Reaper, Hotter than a Bell Pepper

by Gallavantula



Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video)
Genre: F/M, Mr Pepper - Freeform, Mrs Pepper - Freeform, Official Profile update
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-03-12 00:56:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3338168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallavantula/pseuds/Gallavantula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Family is not always related by blood and bonds of love always come out on top. How did Lewis find his niche, his true family?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sweeter than a Carolina Reaper, Hotter than a Bell Pepper

It’s been two hours since Carmen and Diego have begun their drive home, taking their son with them, and leaving two parents sitting around the break room table in their downstairs restaurant to question morality, and their dedication to protecting those they love. Mr. Pepper sat at the table with his legs spread around each side of the seat, leaning forward onto his palm as another weighted sigh slipped past his lips. His usually perfect blonde puff of hair hung all the more sadly against his forehead, and with a free hand he attempted to pull it up to full height. His wife, Mrs. Pepper, continued another circuit around the small alcove, pacing before the stairs to their apartment and the exit to the parking lot in the back. 

  “Savina, please…” Begs Mr. Pepper softly, watching her with a troubled expression as she glanced at him, perking one brow before pursing her lips. 

  “I cannot sit when troubled.” She murmurs, pointedly looking down at him and the ‘You know this’ is left unsaid. The shorter man sighs, rubbing his jaw like it ached and hanging his head all the lower. Savina huffs softly, crossing her arms before striding towards the table and placing a hand down on it. “For Carmen, we can’t-“ She starts, repeating a previous point but Mr. Pepper glances up with more fire in his expression.  

 “You saw the mark on his arm! The burn mark on his hip!” Shouts Mr. Pepper, and Mrs. Pepper fixes him with a harsh gaze that does nothing to quell his fire. “He flinched from me when I reached for him, Savina. He feared me.” And he points harshly into his chest, ruffling his collar and smearing the icing stain over his undershirt. Mrs. Pepper’s eyebrow twitched.  

 “If we say anything, Carmen will be found out. They will deport her and what then? What will her son do?” She presses, urging her husband to see reason, to see all the facts before a choice is made but he shakes his head and stands, the chair scrapping loudly and Savina hushes at him before he turns and stalks towards the exit.    
   
“If we say nothing, that little boy might die!”  

 “Douglah!” Savina scolds loudly, stepping forward towards her retreating husband but he whirls around, such pain and hungry need to protect that it catches her in the midst of the heat, and cools it down. “Sorry love.” She murmurs softly, and he shakes his pink locks from side to side and approached her for a hug. Her arms came around the shorter man and embraced him tightly, curling her head down.  

 “That little man will grow up broken, or worse, like his father. To dare harm such an innocent…” Douglah starts, his back shaking and his wife hushes him with more sincerity and care. She distantly remembers that perhaps he had mentioned his home life before, and his brother and their split, but… it’s too distant for her to be sure.    
   
“We will try and keep him safe, Douglah, but… we must protect Carmen too.” Savina presses once more, nuzzling her nose into the top of his head and she can smell the spice and dough of their hard day’s labour. It was good to have their friends over and have their little girls spend time with another child in their age group but… Their moment is interrupted when the apartment door clicks and opens, and their oldest daughter peers down upon them with puffed cheeks. Her father’s blond hair curled over her face, and blearily she seemed to stare at them. Savina sighed softly, and stepped away from her husband. 

  “Carolina, sweetie, you should be in bed. You promised.” Mrs. Pepper starts, pulling a wry smile at the sides of her mouth and folding her palms over her hips, but Carolina’s blue eyes seem to flash angrily and it’s delayed that her mother sees the tears there. The two of them approach the landing, taking the steps up quickly before Mrs. Pepper leans forward to gather her eldest into her arms. 

  “Did you have a nightmare, love?” She asks softly, already pulling her sleeve up to help clean her face, leaning in close to nuzzle her cheek but Carolina was already six, and she seemed fed up with being babied as Morugan was. 

  “No Mama, Lewis was whimpering again.” She mumbles, sniffling as Savina and Douglah went stiff. “He stole Charlie, and I want him back.” Carolina continues, crossing her arms and looking up at her mother, seeming satisfied with their look of horror. 

  “Honey, Lewis left two hours ago, with Aunty Carmen and Uncle Diego, remember?” Savina adds, but Douglah is already making his way up the rest of the steps and entering the hall towards the children’s bed rooms.  

 “No Mama, he stayed.” Carolina repeats, sniffling another big wet tear and Mrs. Pepper shifted her daughter more securely into her arms and proceeded to follow her husband.  

 “And he took your bear? Without asking?” She prods, wondering if it was just a dream of some kind that her daughter was forgetting, the situation too bizarre to currently make logic of. Yes, Carmen and Diego had been arguing violently in the back lot but… surely Lewis had been brought into the car before they left?   
  She sees Morugan’s door already open and Mr. Pepper kneeling to her height to murmur to her, tousling the pink locks of hair and kissing her forehead before sending the brown and white molted sweetheart back into her room. By the time the door shut, Mrs. Pepper had already joined him and they both shared a look of concern. If Lewis was really in there… Why hadn’t Carmen and Diego called?  

 “Mama…” Carolina begins to whine, yawning near the end to expose the three holes of her missing teeth and Savina ran her fingers through her daughter’s unruly hair. Douglah stepped forward, pushing the door open for the light to shine through when there it was. Upon Carolina’s princess purple covers and beneath the pale blue cloudy douvet, was curled a mop of mulberry purple hair. Carmen had light hints of the shade in her hair and Diego was plain black, leaving Lewis with a unique colour among their family, so striking that Savina nearly made a gasp of a sound, were it not covered by Douglah’s own.  

 The two shared a look at one another, Carolina still angrily huffing between the two of them as she stared at the boy in her bed. This… was not something so easily handled and expected. There’s a distant beep in the kitchen, and it falls upon mute ears as Mr. and Mrs. Pepper realize the depth of what is really happening at this moment. Did Lewis run away from home? How did he make it all the way back here, unnoticed until this time? Douglah’s eyes spoke volumes on how upset he felt, his knuckles shaking tightly as he pressed his lips together and tilted his head. He was still pushing his point. 

  Savina glanced into the bedroom, looking up at all the framed photos on the walls, the dancing horses and dragons her daughter wanted painted, and saw love, comfort and owned, personal space. Lewis… did not have these things. From this distance, they could hear the soft hiccuped sob that left him, soon followed by a gentle snore. Even in his dreams, he grieved over something that he had no control to change. No one to rely on but the man who hurt him and a woman too afraid to protect him.   
  Mrs. Pepper opened her mouth, preparing to ask her husband to leave for a moment as she puts their daughter to sleep when the beep goes off again, and it catches their attention. The answering machine. A phone call, this late?  

 “I’ll grab it.” Answers Mr. Pepper, and he nods towards his wife before she turns and wanders into the room. She steps over a discarded toy, glancing at her daughter who shied away in her arms, looking guilty. 

  “I thought I’d asked you to clean before bed?” She asks softly, Carolina glancing away to look at the boy in her bed. 

  “Lewis was sad, so we kept playing until we got too tired.” She answers like it’s logical, and Savina realizes that perhaps it was. A little boy like him, fleeing from his parents to come here? Her little girl kept him together and happy after such an ordeal… They’d clean it tomorrow. Helping her daughter onto the bed, Savina leaned over to the crate beside the bed, loving that their restaurant name was carved into the plastic grill before pulling up Carolina’s other favourite plush, a cute little llama toy and wiggled it around.  

 “I know you like Charlie, but he needs to protect someone for you tonight. Can Jonesey be your knight?” She asks softly, and though Carolina glances over her shoulder to glare at Lewis, her expression eventually softens, even as Savina noticed a blooming bruise forming on the child’s temple and her heart nearly stopped in her chest. 

  “Okay…” Carolina relents, holding her hands out to receive the stuffed Llama and curls tightly around it before flopping back into her stuffed pillows. “Only for tonight though. Charlie was supposed to fight an evil king with me tonight.” Carolina explains, wiggling herself lower into the sheets as Mrs. Pepper curled the blankets up to her chin, tucking the side beneath the mattress and was rewarded with a yawn. Her baby was tired… 

 “Only tonight, we promise.” Savina swears softly, leaning down to kiss her daughter’s head and her little girl tilted her head back and puckered her lips. Her mother bowed down, pressing her forehead into the kiss and drew away after the smack of lips was heard.  

 “Night Mama…” Is the soft whisper, and Savina tucks the duvet over top, leaning over to make sure it was tucked over Lewis too, but his little fists were balled up in it already and she abandoned trying to move it.  

 “Night, bell pepper. Sweet dreams.” And quietly, carefully, Mrs. Pepper sat up and stalked out into the hall. Closing the door. With a glance, she saw that Siètè was not in bed either. She rolls her eyes with a soft smile, knowing that their youngest princess was going to be clutching to her father, and sauntered over casually into their private family kitchen. Though she expects her little girl to be in Mr. Pepper’s arms, she doesn’t expect to see Siètè tugging at the man’s pant leg as Douglah himself was kneeling over the counter, hand braced against the phone in the wall and the other knuckle white to his hear. He nods again, humming a confirmation before making an agreement, thanking them and hanging up the phone. He’s slumping forward, and Siètè tugs at his pants again with urgency. Mr. Pepper tries to chuckle light heartedly, glancing down upon his little girl with the lightest shade of pink for curled hair and kneeling down.  

 Savina can see the conflict on her husband’s face, and the thankfulness when Siètè simply takes to the hug and buries her face into his shoulder. The glance they share is alarming, Mrs. Pepper feeling her heart clench in her chest as she places a hand there. His expression… it’s like a tragedy has occurred. Together, they usher their little darling to bed, tucking her in and taking turns kissing her forehead and getting their foreheads kissed, wishing Siètè a good night before closing the door. 

  No words are said or traded until the couple arrives to their bedroom, and it’s Mrs. Pepper who closes the door as Mr. Pepper is already seated upon the bed, his face held in his hands. Even his hair seems to have deflated entirely. It’s only a few moments before Savina sits beside him, an arm curling over his shoulders, patient and stalwart as ever until he lifts his head to speak.

   “Diego had attacked Carmen in their front yard. The police were called, and they came to assess the damage. Diego is being arrested for charges and then deported. If Carmen survives the night… She’ll be deported too.” Douglah eventually manages to say, his tone thick with tears and heavy heart settled against his rib cage. Savina held tightly to him, thinking of family, of love and acceptance and how this… would be the end. If Diego too, was to be deported, then Lewis… Lewis would be sent to a country where he’d never find family again. 

  “Douglah…” Savina whispers softly, tucking her head beside his and his arm weaves in behind her side to keep her in close.  

 “I… we can’t let Lewis be taken away. He’ll be eaten by the system and spat out a tragedy…” He murmurs, softly, pressing their heads together. And Savina nodded grimly, aware of the reality of what could happen to poor Lewis if they let things out. Carmen… she only wanted to protect her friend, the girl she grew up with and came to America with. Now… it was too late. She let the risk go too far and Diego didn’t have a valid slip either. She’d failed to have a proper footing. Now… 

Now Savina could prevent the same mistake to their son. Her arm tightened around Douglah’s shoulders, and the man glances up at her to a fierce, passionate look. He smiles lightly, tilting his head like he was asking a question and she simply dipped her head once, answering that question. They then curled in closer to each other, Douglah crossing his legs so that they could press in side to side with one another. Body heat shared, faces side by side, they breathed in together as best they could and took some peace.  

 Tomorrow morning was going to be a long day with many explanations, tears and phone calls but… Lewis was going to be safe. He was going to be loved and treated with respect. Mr. Pepper squeezed a little, and Mrs. Pepper repeated the pressure over his shoulders.  

 “We’ll get through this together.” Douglah murmurs, and Savina tilts over to kiss the man on the temple with as much love as she could muster.  

 “As a family.”


End file.
